Sales of existing U.S. homes decreased in May to the lowest level in six months, a sign that the housing market is lagging other parts of the economy.
Purchases of existing homes fell 3.8 percent to a 4.81 million annual pace last month, in line with the 4.8 million median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists, data from the National Association of Realtors showed today in Washington……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Time for more housing stimulus. The question is how. According to numbers released today by the National Association of Realtors, home sales fell 3.8% in May. They were down 15% from a year ago. Home prices were down as well, 5% lower than a year ago.
And while 4% might not sound like a big drop for sales, for this time of year it is. May and June are typically prime home buying months. Most people like to move in during the summer so they can have their kids in by the school year……………………………………….Full Article: Source

It’s a favorite game of economists and housing market watchers. When your prediction of a housing rebound falls flat, just push off that rosy estimate until the next year. Just take a look at Fannie Mae’s revised forecast for home sales across the country.
Faced with a sluggish economy and a housing market headed south, Fannie Mae has revised downward its prediction of a 6 percent jump in overall home sales this year……………………………………….Full Article: Source

If the U.S. economy were a neighborhood, the housing market would be the Boo Radleys: the one weird neighbor who doesn’t mow his lawn, lets his house fall to pieces and generally drives down resale values for the whole street.
Put another way, the slumping housing market is serving as a drag on the broader American economy as it struggles to recover the effects of the Great Recession……………………………………….Full Article: Source

For much of the nation that silver lining remains invisible, as housing is stuck in its worst slump in decades. Each monthly data point — sinking home prices, slow sales, sluggish housing starts — has fallen like a hammer on the coffin nails of an industry that shows few signs of life.
But housing may soon rise from the dead, argue some economists. And, the severity of the slump may in fact accelerate the arrival of a recovery……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Vacancy rates continue to decline in the U.S. industrial market spurred by demand for big box distribution centers, with Chicago recording the strongest gains in the first quarter of 2011, according to Jones Lang LaSalle’s Spring Industrial Outlook.
The national industrial property market recorded a drop of 20 basis points in the first quarter to finish at an even 10.0 vacancy rate. Activity has been most robust on the coasts, with California’s Inland Empire and the Philadelphia experiencing numerous large leases that have depleted their existing supply of quality, big box space……………………………………….Full Article: Source

New York state legislative leaders on Tuesday reached tentative agreements on rent control and a property tax cap, while the fate of a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage remained up in the air.
Emerging from a closed-door meeting with New York Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, both Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said a “framework” agreement had been reached on the rent laws and tax cap……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Property sales in the UK remained at a relatively low level in May and lower than the same month a year ago, new figures show. Some 68,000 homes were sold in May, down 2,000 on the revised total of a month earlier, according to HM Revenue and Customs data.
The total was also 3,000 down on the same month a year ago. Lenders say there is little chance of a rebound in the coming months, judging by mortgage data……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Paris’s housing market is stalling as buyers are deterred by record prices following two years of gains that outstripped London and New York.
Average prices fell by about 3 percent in the first five months of the year, according to an index compiled by Databiens.com based mainly on reports from the city’s affluent western districts. While it’s the only gauge so far to register a drop, other indicators show that transactions are falling and the time it takes to sell a property has almost doubled from a year ago……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Norway’s housing market has been performing impressively. The house price index rose 8.4% during the year to the first quarter of 2011, according to Statistics Norway, or 7.5% adjusted for inflation. The first quarter’s rise was a giant leap, with the index up 5.1% q-o-q (4.5% real), in contrast to a 0.1% drop in Q4 2010.
Norway’s market began recovering in early 2009, after house prices fell from mid-2007 to 2008:………………………………………Full Article: Source

Overseas buyers are hoping to snap up some bargain acquisitions in the Spanish property market over the coming months. In an interview with Reuters, Van Stults, managing director of Orion Capital Managers, revealed that property in Spain is one of the key targets for its European Real Estate Fund III.
He explained that many investors believe that the Spanish economy has reached - or is close to - its low point and that the market will rebound to give buyers returns on their property investment by 2013……………………………………….Full Article: Source

“They say that we have a real estate bubble. There is still a sense that we’re at risk. The attention of mortgage holders should be drawn to what they are doing, because the process that is creating this bubble is a process of home prices that feeds on itself,” Deputy Governor of the Bank of Israel Prof. Zvi Eckstein said.
He added, “Our goal is to prevent bubbles. We’re not talking about sledgehammers; our policy is careful and cautious. The Bank of Israel won’t let a bubble emerge.”………………………………………Full Article: Source

The EMEA region real estate investment market has essentially been flat over the past several quarters as capital values rose just 2.6 percent in Q1 2011 - slightly lower than its last reading, according to the latest research by leading global property adviser CB Richard Ellis (CBRE).
EMEA continues to be affected by the European sovereign debt crisis, which is impeding much of the region’s recovery; as a result, transaction volumes increased by just 35.4 percent y-o-y……………………………………….Full Article: Source

The UAE’s real estate sector rebounded into growth in 2010 after recording one of its largest falls in 2009 because of the 2008 global fiscal distress while construction activity also sharply picked up, according to official data.
After plummetting by nearly 18.6 per cent in 2009, the real estate sector recovered by around 2.5 per cent in real terms in 2010, showed the figures by the National Bureau of Statistics……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Dubai’s embattled real estate market is showing signs of stability amid a global stall in the growth of house prices, real estate consultancy Knight Frank said. The Gulf’s worst-performing property market in the last three years has seen house prices rise 2.1 percent since October, with a modest 0.6 percent increase in the first quarter.
By comparison, global house prices rose just 1.8 percent in the year to March, the lowest annual rate of growth recorded since the last quarter of 2009, the consultancy said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Real estate consultant DTZ Holdings Plc’s fund investment arm favors the commercial sector in mature cities in Asia, home to some of the world’s most expensive office space, because of strong economic growth and ample liquidity, a senior executive said.
DTZ, which competes with property services companies such as Jones Lang LaSalle Inc and CB Richard Ellis Group Inc, was holding off from most emerging markets as policy risks loomed, said David Schaefer, international director at DTZ Investment & Asset Management……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Cheung Kong (Holdings) Ltd., Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing’s property company, is “not that bullish” on Asia’s housing market as governments introduce more curbs to contain prices, Executive Director Justin Chiu said.
Hong Kong’s second-biggest developer also expects home prices in the city to remain little changed after the government on June 10 imposed more measures including bigger down payments, making it hard to repeat the 20 percent to 30 percent gains in previous years, he said……………………………………….Full Article: Source

From Mumbai to Melbourne, the Asia-Pacific property boom is stalling as the world’s highest interest rates and government efforts to curb prices take hold.
In China’s biggest cities, growth slowed in April after the Government stepped up property measures. In India and Australia, prices are falling after the steepest interest rate increases among major economies……………………………………….Full Article: Source

European real estate investors are likely to invest more funds in commercial properties in Asia in coming years as they gain confidence in a region that is leading growth, according to Steffen Wolf, a senior executive at Savills Asia-Pacific.
The property services firm believes investment will increase significantly in the next three to five years and argues that focus has changed substantially in the past 12-15 months. The entire Asian region including North Asia, Australia and India are of interest to European investors……………………………………….Full Article: Source

With the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) frowning on structured products and the government stipulating a three-year lock-in period, foreign direct investment (FDI) in real estate has slowed down significantly over the past year. Industry-watchers point out that after the Lehman crisis, investors have turned more cautious and capital flows into Indian real estate have tapered off.
While FDI flows amounted to roughly $14-15 billion in the four years to December 2009, just about a billion had come in till November last year……………………………………….Full Article: Source

Rising construction costs, labour scarcity and shortage of funds are taking a toll on the real estate industry. Projects are getting delayed and consumer anger is rising as people struggle to cope with rising EMIs.
Builders, on their part, say they are helpless - funds are hard to come by and costs are escalating by the day. Typically, the construction-linked payment schedule is front-loaded, with payments done with subsequent slabs getting constructed……………………………………….Full Article: Source

It’s a well-known adage that when it comes to property, it’s all about location, location, location. As the Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway is set to open to the public by the end of this month, a number of property investors and developers have turned their attention to cities along the railway line
Bengbu, a city in eastern Anhui Province, is connected by the Beijing-Shanghai High Speed rail.
And close to the railway station, two newly-built housing developments are attracting interest, thanks to its convenient location……………………………………….Full Article: Source